NATIONAL POLICY ON MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES AND THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR IN NIGERIA, 2007-2016

Abstract

The manufacturing sector of the Nigerian economy in the past four decades has recorded abysmal performance despite several policies and programmes including the 2007 national policy on micro, small and medium enterprises aimed at boosting small and medium enterprises within the sector . Regrettably the sector’s performance in terms of poverty reduction, job creation and contribution to gross domestic product has remained poor compared to its counterparts in Asian and Latin American countries, largely on account of poor implementation of government policies in the sector. The study rely on the basic propositions of the post colonial state theory arguing that the lopsided implementation of the 2007 policy accounted for the poor performance of SMEs in the sector. The study adopted documentary method and content analysis for data collection and analysis and found that the implementation of policy concentrated on provision of credit facilities at the exclusion of other components of the policy such as business regulation, capacity building and critical infrastructures. Thus recommends aggressive infrastructural rehabilitation, establishment of industrial sites and human capital development.